Spontaneous mesangiocapillary glomerulonephritis in Finn cross lambs from Alberta.

A spontaneous mesangiocapillary glomerulonephritis occurred in three, one to three month old Finnish Landrace cross lambs from a flock in northern Alberta. The ram was a purebred Finn sheep, and the ewes were Finn-Rambouillet and Finn-Suffolk-Rambouillet crosses. The lambs were found dead without previous clinical signs. Histologically there was marked thickening of glomerular capillary basement membranes, proliferation of mesangial cells, and peri-glomerular fibrosis. An interstitial infiltration of plasma cells and lymphocytes was present with occasional tubular degeneration and proteinaceous cast formation. Focal leukoencephalomalacia was present in one lamb. Electron microscopy demonstrated deposition of electron-dense deposits in a subendothelial location with occasional fusion of overlying foot processes in glomerular capillaries. Indirect immunofluorescence studies demonstrated positive staining material in glomerular capillary walls. These findings in Finnish Landrace cross lambs are characteristic of mesangiocapillary glomerulonephritis, a condition heretofore not reported in North America.     

Ulcerative vulvitis and balanitis in sheep flocks

Outbreaks of ulcerative vulvitis and balanitis occurred in three commercial sheep flocks in England and Wales. Between 29 and 44 per cent of the ewes were affected; most of the lesions resolved in three weeks. Pathogens such as mycoplasmas, which have previously been associated with these conditions, were not detected despite using improved laboratory techniques. In one of the flocks, ovine herpesvirus type 2 was detected by pcr in the blood of two acutely affected ewes, from the vulval ulcers of one of them, and from the penis of an affected ram.     

Persistent shedding of Salmonella enteritidis from the udder of a cow

Salmonella enteritidis phagetype 8 was isolated from ill humans, milk-line filters, milk from a bulk tank, and milk from the right hind quarter of a five-year-old Holstein cow on a dairy farm in southern Alberta. The affected animal was removed from the herd and continued to shed S. enteritidis from this quarter during a seven-month interval in an isolation facility. Milk from the affected quarter was visually normal, and no other pathogen was isolated from the udder during the investigation. After removal of the infected cow from the herd, milk from the bulk tank was culturally negative for Salmonella sp. during the succeeding 15 months.